Chapter 6 #2
“A prince who hides in plain sight,” Ashtine said, looking past him to the window beyond. “Why is that open?”
“Are you cold?” Talwyn asked.
“No.”
“Then why does it bother you?”
“It does not.”
Talwyn set her silverware down, pushing her plate aside. The weight of her full attention landed on Ashtine, but before she could speak, Tarek said, “What do you mean, ‘a prince who hides in plain sight?’”
“It could mean many things,” Ashtine murmured.
“But you have an idea?” Tarek pushed.
“She doesn’t know,” Talwyn said.
“Surely she has an inkling,” Tarek argued.
“That is not how the winds work.”
“She is a Wind Walker,” he replied. “Her entire purpose is to communicate with the winds.”
“The winds speak like an Oracle,” Talwyn said tightly. “Only Ashtine cannot have a conversation with them. She can only hear their chattering.”
“And she has been doing this for decades,” Tarek said, clearly growing agitated. “One would think she’d have learned to understand them in some way.”
“One would think you’d speak more respectfully to your queen,” Ashtine cut in, her lilt sharp as the air around the room stirred. A moment later, a hawk’s cry sounded before Nasima appeared at the window, perching on the ledge.
“I am not speaking to her as my queen right now,” Tarek replied flippantly. “I am speaking to my twin flame.”
The silver bracelet coiled around Talwyn’s wrist shimmered, and Tarek’s eyes dropped to it before meeting her gaze again. Ashtine watched, somewhat fascinated, as his features softened. “I did not mean to upset you, Moonflower.”
She ventured east, whispered the winds.
Ashtine slid her gaze to Talwyn. “Did you visit the Wind Court recently?”
Talwyn slid her plate back in front of her, watching Ashtine carefully. “Do you think I would visit your Court but not visit you?”
Ashtine tapped her nail again absent-mindedly. “Visiting me is not a requirement of visiting the Wind Court.”
“Ashtine, I—”
“But I would have felt you enter the Court,” she continued, as though she hadn’t heard Talwyn speak at all.
But if she hadn’t come to the Wind Court that only left the Witch Kingdoms, and why would she go there? It was common knowledge Talwyn and the High Witch did not get along.
There was a long moment of silence before Talwyn lifted a hand, a swirl of leaves appearing and disappearing, taking a message to someone.
“We need Azrael for breakfast?” Tarek asked shortly, apparently knowing who Talwyn had sent the message to.
“No. I need my Second because Ashtine is troubled by something,” Talwyn answered.
“We don’t even know if that is true,” Tarek argued. “Furthermore, how will Azrael help with that?”
Lies and truth, who can tell?
Enemies or friends?
She will come.
Who will come? Ashtine wondered, desperate to understand something. Anything. Desperate for a reprieve from—
The rivers will run red.
The lands will be divided.
Which side will you choose?
The war only sleeps.
Answers lie across the sea, Ashtine recited in her mind.
Go there!
She sighed. I cannot go there. I do not wish to go there.
Reaching out, she stroked her fingers along Nasima’s feathers. She wasn’t sure when she’d stood and made her way to the window, but she hadn’t heard the last several minutes of conversation between Talwyn and Tarek.
The guarded prince arrives.
She didn’t need the winds to tell her Prince Azrael was here.
She knew the male’s heavy footsteps and heard them seconds before the dining hall doors opened once more.
More out of habit than anything, Ashtine turned and nodded in greeting to the Earth Prince.
His earthy brown eyes were scanning the room before him, but she’d already turned back to the window.
He trusts no one.
He is smart, Ashtine retorted.
Which side will he choose?
“The winds’ whispers are vague and often nonsense,” Azrael was saying. “They could mean nothing, but they could mean everything.”
“She has to have some idea,” Tarek was arguing.
“What stakes do you have in this revelation?” the Earth Prince countered.
The rivers will run red.
The lands will be divided.
“There is a war coming,” Ashtine said, fingers gliding over Nasima’s head once more.
The chatter ceased for a moment, the silence deafening.
Tarek was the first to speak. “The war ended centuries ago.”
“The end of one war does not prevent the rise of another,” Azrael replied from where he stood near the table, his arms crossed.
“There have been no indications of war. Does this have to do with Avonleya?” Talwyn mused.
“Avonleya can do nothing locked behind their wards,” Tarek scoffed.
“They incited the Great War. I am sure they can incite another.”
“We are well prepared for a war. All the Courts are after everything that transpired before,” Azrael said.
Answers lie across the sea.
Her hands fell to the window ledge, fingers curling. The whispers of the winds mixed with the arguing of her peers.
If others are not taking your concerns seriously, it is because you are allowing such a thing.
Briar’s words rattled in her mind among everything else.
And it was all just so fucking loud.
“Enough!” she cried, whirling from the window. A gust of wind rattled the dishes on the table, and Nasima let out an anxious cry. Everyone stilled, turning to her.
“Ashtine?” Talwyn ventured.
Both Azrael and Tarek had stepped in front of her, standing in defensive positions. It was only then that Ashtine realized her feet weren’t on the ground. She was floating a few inches above the floor, the winds keeping her aloft.
Control was as fleeting as the winds right now, and she grappled to find any semblance of it. A princess was to never lose control over her power, her Court, her demeanor.
And she found she did not care in this moment. That was both stupid and dangerous.
“War comes. Prepare or don’t, but with war, death comes to claim what is his. The rivers will run red. The lands will be divided, and the survival of the realm hangs in the balance,” Ashtine said, holding Talwyn’s gaze. “Do with that knowledge what you will.”
“Ashtine—”
But she was gone among the winds before she could hear them speak further.
Before she lost any more control.
She’d already lost her sanity.
And she wondered if she’d ever know peace again.